106 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
106 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
<!-- factbase:a94620 -->
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# Phoenician Alphabet
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# Phoenician Alphabet
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## Overview
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The Phoenician alphabet (~1050 BCE) was the first widely-used phonetic alphabet, consisting of 22 consonant letters. It is the ancestor of virtually all modern alphabets including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew.
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## Key Facts
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- Origin: Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), ~1050 BCE
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- Type: Abjad (consonantal alphabet, no vowels)
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- Number of letters: 22
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- Direction: Right to left
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- Derived from: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script (~1800 BCE) [^1]
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## Descendants
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- Greek alphabet (~800 BCE): Added vowels, adapted letter forms
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- Aramaic alphabet: Ancestor of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and many Asian scripts
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- Latin alphabet (via Greek and Etruscan): Used by most of the modern world
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- South Arabian script: Ancestor of Ethiopic (Ge'ez) [^2]
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## Significance
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- Simplified writing from hundreds of signs (cuneiform, hieroglyphics) to 22 letters
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- Made literacy more accessible beyond scribal elites
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- Spread across the Mediterranean through Phoenician trade networks
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---
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[^1]: Sass, B. *The Genesis of the Alphabet* (1988)
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[^2]: Daniels, P.T. & Bright, W. *The World's Writing Systems* (Oxford, 1996)
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---
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## Review Queue
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<!-- factbase:review -->
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 10: "Origin: Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), ~1050 BCE" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 11: "Type: Abjad (consonantal alphabet, no vowels)" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 12: "Number of letters: 22" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 13: "Direction: Right to left" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 14: "Derived from: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script (~1800 BCE) [^1]" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 17: "Greek alphabet (~800 BCE): Added vowels, adapted letter forms" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 18: "Aramaic alphabet: Ancestor of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and many Asian scripts" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 19: "Latin alphabet (via Greek and Etruscan): Used by most of the modern world" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 20: "South Arabian script: Ancestor of Ethiopic (Ge'ez) [^2]" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 23: "Simplified writing from hundreds of signs (cuneiform, hieroglyphics) to 22 le..." - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 24: "Made literacy more accessible beyond scribal elites" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[temporal]` Line 25: "Spread across the Mediterranean through Phoenician trade networks" - when was this true?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 10: "Origin: Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), ~1050 BCE" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 11: "Type: Abjad (consonantal alphabet, no vowels)" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 12: "Number of letters: 22" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 13: "Direction: Right to left" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 17: "Greek alphabet (~800 BCE): Added vowels, adapted letter forms" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 18: "Aramaic alphabet: Ancestor of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and many Asian scripts" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 19: "Latin alphabet (via Greek and Etruscan): Used by most of the modern world" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 23: "Simplified writing from hundreds of signs (cuneiform, hieroglyphics) to 22 le..." - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 24: "Made literacy more accessible beyond scribal elites" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[missing]` Line 25: "Spread across the Mediterranean through Phoenician trade networks" - what is the source?
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- [ ] `@q[stale]` Line 14: "Derived from: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script (~1800 BCE) [^1]" - Sass source from 1988 may be outdated, is this still accurate?
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- [ ] `@q[stale]` Line 20: "South Arabian script: Ancestor of Ethiopic (Ge'ez) [^2]" - Daniels source from 1996 may be outdated, is this still accurate?
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